9,402 research outputs found
Cascade atom in high-Q cavity: The spectrum for non-Markovian decay
The spontaneous emission spectrum for a three level cascade configuration
atom in a single mode high-Q cavity coupled to a zero temperature reservoir of
continuum external modes is determined from the atom-cavity mode master
equation using the quantum regression theorem. Initially the atom is in its
upper state and the cavity mode empty of photons. Following Glauber, the
spectrum is defined via the response of a detector atom. Spectra are calculated
for the detector located inside the cavity (case A), outside the cavity end
mirror (Case B-end emission), or placed for emission out the side of the cavity
(Case C). The spectra for case A and case B are found to be essentially the
same. In all the cases the predicted lineshapes are free of instrumental
effects and only due to cavity decay. Spectra are presented for intermediate
and strong coupling regime situations (where both atomic transitions are
resonant with the cavity frequency), for cases of non-zero cavity detuning, and
for cases where the two atomic transition frequencies differ. The spectral
features for Cases B(A) and C are qualitatively similar, with six spectral
peaks for resonance cases and eight for detuned cases. These general features
of the spectra can be understood via the dressed atom model. However, Case B
and C spectra differ in detail, with the latter exhibiting a deep spectral hole
at the cavity frequency due to quantum interference effects.Comment: 29 pages, 14 figures; v2: very minor correction to two equations,
thicker lines in some figure
Field Quantization, Photons and Non-Hermitean Modes
Field quantization in three dimensional unstable optical systems is treated
by expanding the vector potential in terms of non-Hermitean (Fox-Li) modes in
both the cavity and external regions. The cavity non-Hermitean modes (NHM) are
treated using the paraxial and monochromaticity approximations. The NHM
bi-orthogonality relationships are used in a standard canonical quantization
procedure based on introducing generalised coordinates and momenta for the
electromagnetic (EM) field. The quantum EM field is equivalent to a set of
quantum harmonic oscillators (QHO), associated with either the cavity or the
external region NHM. This confirms the validity of the photon model in unstable
optical systems, though the annihilation and creation operators for each QHO
are not Hermitean adjoints. The quantum Hamiltonian for the EM field is the sum
of non-commuting cavity and external region contributions, each of which is sum
of independent QHO Hamiltonians for each NHM, but the external field
Hamiltonian also includes a coupling term responsible for external NHM photon
exchange processes. Cavity energy gain and loss processes is associated with
the non-commutativity of cavity and external region operators, given in terms
of surface integrals involving cavity and external region NHM functions on the
cavity-external region boundary. The spontaneous decay of a two-level atom
inside an unstable cavity is treated using the essential states approach and
the rotating wave approximation. Atomic transitions leading to cavity NHM
photon absorption have a different coupling constant to those leading to photon
emission, a feature resulting from the use of NHM functions. Under certain
conditions the decay rate is enhanced by the Petermann factor.Comment: 38 pages, tex, 2 figures, ps. General expression for decay rate
added. To be published in Journal of Modern Optic
The Apm Galaxy Survey IV: Redshifts of Rich Clusters of Galaxies
We present redshifts for a sample of 229 clusters selected from the APM
Galaxy Survey, 189 of which are new redshift determinations. Non-cluster galaxy
redshifts have been rejected from this sample using a likelihood ratio test
based on the projected and apparent magnitude distributions of the cluster
fields. We test this technique using cluster fields in which redshifts have
been measured for more than 10 galaxies. Our redshift sample is nearly complete
and has been used in previous papers to study the three dimensional
distribution of rich clusters of galaxies. 157 of the clusters in our sample
are listed in the Abell catalogue or supplement, and the remainder are new
cluster identifications.Comment: 15 pages UUencoded compressed postscript. Submitted to Monthly
Notices of the R.A.
Radio Galaxy Clustering at z~0.3
Radio galaxies are uniquely useful as probes of large-scale structure as
their uniform identification with giant elliptical galaxies out to high
redshift means that the evolution of their bias factor can be predicted. As the
initial stage in a project to study large-scale structure with radio galaxies
we have performed a small redshift survey, selecting 29 radio galaxies in the
range 0.19<z<0.45 from a contiguous 40 square degree area of sky. We detect
significant clustering within this sample. The amplitude of the two-point
correlation function we measure is consistent with no evolution from the local
(z<0.1) value. This is as expected in a model in which radio galaxy hosts form
at high redshift and thereafter obey a continuity equation, although the
signal:noise of the detection is too low to rule out other models. Larger
surveys out to z~1 should reveal the structures of superclusters at
intermediate redshifts and strongly constrain models for the evolution of
large-scale structure.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted by ApJ Letter
CEQE: Contextualized Embeddings for Query Expansion
In this work we leverage recent advances in context-sensitive language models to improve the task of query expansion. Contextualized word representation models, such as ELMo and BERT, are rapidly replacing static embedding models. We propose a new model, Contextualized Embeddings for Query Expansion (CEQE), that utilizes query-focused contextualized embedding vectors. We study the behavior of contextual representations generated for query expansion in ad-hoc document retrieval. We conduct our experiments on probabilistic retrieval models as well as in combination with neural ranking models. We evaluate CEQE on two standard TREC collections: Robust and Deep Learning. We find that CEQE outperforms static embedding-based expansion methods on multiple collections (by up to 18% on Robust and 31% on Deep Learning on average precision) and also improves over proven probabilistic pseudo-relevance feedback (PRF) models. We further find that multiple passes of expansion and reranking result in continued gains in effectiveness with CEQE-based approaches outperforming other approaches. The final model incorporating neural and CEQE-based expansion score achieves gains of up to 5% in P@20 and 2% in AP on Robust over the state-of-the-art transformer-based re-ranking model, Birch
The percutaneous absorption of soman in a damaged skin porcine model and the evaluation of WoundStat™ as a topical decontaminant
PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate a candidate haemostat (WoundStat™), down-selected from previous in vitro studies, for efficacy as a potential skin decontaminant against the chemical warfare agent pinacoyl methylfluorophosphonate (Soman, GD) using an in vivo pig model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An area of approximately 3 cm2 was dermatomed from the dorsal ear skin to a nominal depth of 100 µm. A discrete droplet of 14C-GD (300 µg kg-1) was applied directly onto the surface of the damaged skin at the centre of the dosing site. Animals assigned to the treatment group were given a 2 g application of WoundStat™ 30 s after GD challenge. The decontamination efficacy of WoundStat™ against GD was measured by the direct quantification of the distribution of 14C-GD, as well as routine determination of whole blood cholinesterase and physiological measurements. RESULTS: WoundStat™ sequestered approximately 70% of the applied 14C-GD. Internal radiolabel recovery from treated animals was approximately 1% of the initially applied dose. Whole blood cholinesterase levels decreased to less than 10% of the original value by 15 min post WoundStat™ treatment and gradually decreased until the onset of apnoea or until euthanasia. All treated animals showed signs of GD intoxication that could be grouped into early (mastication, fasciculations and tremor), intermediate (miosis, salivation and nasal secretions) and late onset (lacrimation, body spasm and apnoea) effects. Two of the six WoundStat™ treated animals survived the study duration. CONCLUSIONS: The current study has shown that the use of WoundStat™ as a decontaminant on damaged pig ear skin was unable to fully protect against GD toxicity. Importantly, the findings indicate that the use of WoundStat™ in GD contaminated wounds would not exacerbate GD toxicity. These data suggest that absorbent haemostatic products may offer some limited functionality as wound decontaminants.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio
Theory of Pseudomodes in Quantum Optical Processes
This paper deals with non-Markovian behaviour in atomic systems coupled to a
structured reservoir of quantum EM field modes, with particular relevance to
atoms interacting with the field in high Q cavities or photonic band gap
materials. In cases such as the former, we show that the pseudo mode theory for
single quantum reservoir excitations can be obtained by applying the Fano
diagonalisation method to a system in which the atomic transitions are coupled
to a discrete set of (cavity) quasimodes, which in turn are coupled to a
continuum set of (external) quasimodes with slowly varying coupling constants
and continuum mode density. Each pseudomode can be identified with a discrete
quasimode, which gives structure to the actual reservoir of true modes via the
expressions for the equivalent atom-true mode coupling constants. The quasimode
theory enables cases of multiple excitation of the reservoir to now be treated
via Markovian master equations for the atom-discrete quasimode system.
Applications of the theory to one, two and many discrete quasimodes are made.
For a simple photonic band gap model, where the reservoir structure is
associated with the true mode density rather than the coupling constants, the
single quantum excitation case appears to be equivalent to a case with two
discrete quasimodes
Non-Markovian Decay of a Three Level Cascade Atom in a Structured Reservoir
We present a formalism that enables the study of the non-Markovian dynamics
of a three-level ladder system in a single structured reservoir. The
three-level system is strongly coupled to a bath of reservoir modes and two
quantum excitations of the reservoir are expected. We show that the dynamics
only depends on reservoir structure functions, which are products of the mode
density with the coupling constant squared. This result may enable pseudomode
theory to treat multiple excitations of a structured reservoir. The treatment
uses Laplace transforms and an elimination of variables to obtain a formal
solution. This can be evaluated numerically (with the help of a numerical
inverse Laplace transform) and an example is given. We also compare this result
with the case where the two transitions are coupled to two separate structured
reservoirs (where the example case is also analytically solvable)
- …